Hello fellow Lumberjocks. I recently was given some pine roof rafters that were being discarded at a renovation site. The beams are about 9”X3.5”X18’ – the growth rings are TIGHT and the wood itself is heavy and solid. I was milling some of it when an old timer came by that used to be a woodworker. He looked at it and thought it was “pumpkin pine.” The shakers used pumpkin pine a lot according to a book I have about them. So, my question is, what is pumpkin pine? How can you tell if that’s the wood you have on your work bench?

Thanks guys!

Dan

-- Glue-up is still the stage when everything that was perfect in dry-fit goes horribly wrong, but I'm working on it.

bondogaposis: I think what you wrote makes sense. I read that the shakers used pumpkin pine for a lot of the things they built and they were really just up the road from me (when they existed, of course). And, I suspect they cut down and milled their own lumber – which means it must have come from the same woods I’m living in. So, again, I think that makes sense that it’s old growth pine – the rings are amazing – tight and very uniform.

Then again it could be a first cousin to porcu pine…so maybe the jury’s still out! :-)

Thanks again guys.

Dan81

-- Glue-up is still the stage when everything that was perfect in dry-fit goes horribly wrong, but I'm working on it.

I have heard this used to describe Heart pine before. The old pine trees grew for a long enough time to develop heart wood that has a deep orange color. It is harder to come across but can be found allot in old demolitions.